I had another idea as a spin off from the "What makes it worth your while" thread.
So what does your Eutopia look like? What are your goals as a musician? Have you achieved them? Are you happy?
Ill go first.
My "eutopia" now is far different than it was when I was in my teens BELIEVE me! I wanted to be a ROCKSTAAAAAAA!
Now, my eutopia would be hitting a wicked cool groove, with some awesome musicians in a bar or outdoor type event were everyone is feelin it and having a great time listening to "live" music. Notice I didnt say the bar/venue had to be packed....though thats a plus Oh and the tits too.....I seriously love it when the girls are gettin off to the music. This is not a bad thing!
I would also enjoy writing music with creative people. I am lucky to have achieved my goals and am blessed to say I am very happy where am I at. Though it is all about to change very soon....but thats cool too.
I've never been a morning person — ever in my life — however, I report Monday through Friday at 7 a.m. and have for years and years.
Music is a night gig, and I'd give anything to be able to replace what I do to pay the mortgage with gigging, on any level, as long as the income (which would have to include the ability to medically insure the family), at the very least, met what I'm bringing in now.
To me, performance is not work, it is a pleasure. How cool would it be to earn my entire living with a microphone? Damn cool. Anytime we talk about it, old sKool always says, "no matter what turns life takes, it always comes back to the music." People who love building things usually work for a contractor first, but many end up slapping magnetic signs on their own pick up trucks. What's the difference between that and what we do??
Dreams of becoming a "rockstar" aside (I guess anything can happen if you believe in yourself), I'm driven to make this my full-time occupation. That would be Utopia. Anything above that would be sausage gravy on the biscuit.
I love just walking into a gig with musicians I respect as people, players, and performers and laying it down in front of a room full of people. Some people hate the music "business," but honestly, I enjoy most of the aspects of it. Eventually, my dream is to start my own independent record label, so I can take on some of the production angles of music.
Right now, my goal with the band is to keep going with a tight-knit core of excellent players and friends-for-life, take on more Friday gigs, and then get back in the rehearsal room to write some more original material.
"He's the electric horseman, you better back off!" - old sKool making a reference to the culturally relevant 1979 film.
For me it's just being in a band where everyone takes pride in playing their respective part to the best of their ability.
You don't need to be a virtuoso just have fun doing what you set out to do.
It also includes playing original tunes and seeing people react, dance, singalong whatever. (Man this shit gives me goosebumps at every show).
Dealing with different bands from different genres, and sharing a stage with great people with no beef.
So ya I guess I'm livin it. And every once in awhile we'll just have one of those over the top, "is this really happening" shows where all of these things come together. That's almost more than I could ask for when that happens.
"You are now either a clueless inbred brownshirt Teabagger, or a babykilling hippie Marxist on welfare."-Songsmith
At first glance, I thought this topic said "What does your Ethiopia look like". Upon further review, my originally planned response is no longer applicable.
Not long ago I wrote that I wouldn't change a whole lot about my career, and I'll stick by that... though I often wish I'd gotten into a more open-minded, jammy approach a whole lot sooner. I was a metal snob for too long... if it didn't have crunchy guitars, I wouldn't get involved. Now, I have nothing against metal, but it largely requires that you be precise, hitting a predetermined note at exactly a certain time... that's called being tight, which is good. However, it's still a LOT of fun to get some pickers together and let the music be bounded only by the abilities and imaginations of the pickers. I wish I'd hung out with guys like Felix when I was 17, not 27.
I'm really proud that I can stand onstage singing a Priest song with Ronny Dalansky, or blowing harp with the Hurricanes on a slow blues, or lap steel with Ricky Lee or the Country Outlaws, or dobro with Mama Corn, or any of the things I get to do. I never tire of it, and I doubt that I ever will. Just last night I sat in on Chris Vipond's new project at Al's Tavern, playing harp to some awesome percussive acoustic funk grooves... I got to explore some new territory for me, and they just sort of gave me the freedom to stretch out musically because that's what people do when I'm there. How effing cool is that? AND... I overheard someone saying, "... oh, yeah, that's Johnny Stevens, he's really good." I almost cried. Isn't that what everybody wants to hear?
People ask me to play music with them alot. I'll tell you a secret: I have no talent. I'm not really a standout at anything I do, and only the songwriting feels natural to me. I just do a whole bunch of different things because when I was young, I was naive, and thought you HAD to know how to do everything to be a musician. I learned a lot, and worked at it as much as I could. If I had more talent, I might be better at something, but hey, I have a freaking blast. Nobody has more fun than me, and I never forget that.
My musical Utopia just follows me around. From my first band, featuring friends of mine since toddlerhood, to the next studio session, it just sort of happens. I'd love it if my wife was a musician, she has a great ear, but no inclination to play. That'd be just profound for me, but it's cool now, too.
Last week, a 13-year-old boy came into the Emporium and got a few things... he had just been asked moments earlier to join his first band, and that practice would be the following day. He was so excited, and I remembered exactly how he felt. Now, maybe he'll play guitar for the next 3 months in his first and only garage band, and then it's on to snowboarding. But maybe not. Maybe it'll change his life irrevocably forever. Maybe he'll go on to play at his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
I hope he lets me sit in.----------->JMS
Hmmmm,
I stated in a past post about how I'd want playing to be. When I was young I had the rockstar dream as most go thru. The tour bus, trips, concerts ect. I wanted to be headliner, on the radio, studio, record a tape ect. In a small way I did all that. Was signed by Angelie Productions and opened for Doc Williams and was to tour with Kitty Wells (classic "Teddy Bear" singer on the country circuit) Thought ,"Here We Go!!" Then our guitar player was in an auto accident 2 days before we were to play in the Jimmy Dean Country Showdown, we put on white arm bands and played anyway in his honor. We came in second and that got us noticed and signed. Then we had to go to Danville Hospital when they decided to pull the plug and be with him one more time. Walking in and seeing him on a machine and hearing our tape being played in the room because they said they saw brain activity when it was turned on was one of the hardest things to deal with. Seeing a friend who you joked and looked over the drum kit night after night in that condition was tuff. When he died later on and we had to be the pallbearer at the funeral. Walked into a funeral room and the whole family goes quiet and hear the whispers , "He's in the band." It was hard for me because I was young then and felt the rug was pulled out from me. It was all ruff, it took a toll on the band, the goals, the works.
It also put in to respective what to dream for, and how to appriciate what you done and how fragile everything is.
Now I set goals smaller so rewards are easier to come by and appriciated more. My perfect dream now would be to make a living playing. I don't want to be famous. I wouldn't want the job of coming out with hit after hit. Kids are hard on music today. Listen to any top 40 list. your here today, gone tomm. There's allot of stress to "top what you just did". I'd be happy to wake without an alarm clock, eat, play X-box, a little pratice, and play 3-4 nights a week making a little more than I do working at a job. Is that too much to ask for???
songsmith wrote:
Last week, a 13-year-old boy came into the Emporium and got a few things... he had just been asked moments earlier to join his first band, and that practice would be the following day. He was so excited, and I remembered exactly how he felt. Now, maybe he'll play guitar for the next 3 months in his first and only garage band, and then it's on to snowboarding. But maybe not. Maybe it'll change his life irrevocably forever. Maybe he'll go on to play at his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
I hope he lets me sit in.----------->JMS
Songsmith and Trucula, wonderful words there. We should hook up some time and try writing. I'm horrible at lyrics but I would bet you could help me in that dept.
Now Utopia. Man, I doubt if anyone truly finds that perfect state of being. I know I haven't but I've felt that at times I'm within a million miles or less of it! Looking back I've always been fortunate in our little musical world. Played with folks much better than me to full houses, played many different places, got my 15 minutes with a national (though kinda washed up at the time ), and now I'm living diversity from country to Brit rock, to funk, to "High School Musical". It's all good. Great family, pretty cool but a paycheck to paycheck job, and lifelong friends made from playing and singin'. Utopia, no. I too have family and friends that are suffering but I can't change that. But, musically, life's been a bit Utopian.
Utopia is a feeling. That magic moment when everything clicks. It doesn't matter where it is, or who is there. The whole band is in perfect sync and it creates a "high" we all share .
Sometimes the moment is fleeting, lasting one song. Sometimes it lasts for a set. Sometimes a whole gig. The endorphins and adrenaline are flowing through the whole band , pure magic.
Hawk wrote:Utopia is a feeling. That magic moment when everything clicks. It doesn't matter where it is, or who is there. The whole band is in perfect sync and it creates a "high" we all share .
I need a Utopian fix.
Hellyeah!!! Post of the year right there!
That's what it's all about!
No drug could ever compete with that!
Charltor wrote:
"Hawk: Utopia is a feeling. That magic moment when everything clicks. It doesn't matter where it is, or who is there. The whole band is in perfect sync and it creates a "high" we all share .
I need a Utopian fix."
Hellyeah!!! Post of the year right there!
That's what it's all about!
No drug could ever compete with that!
I've been fortunate enough to be in attendance during many of these moments for quite a few Bands over the years, and trust me, it's not only the Musicans who share in the feeling of this Musical Utopia.
(:roll: I would imagine there's a reason a genre is named: "Acid Rock"...although that could be another topic altogether...
I.e.: Did Acid influence/enhance the Music, or did Music influence/enhance the Acid???)
My Utopia occurs every time our drummer and I nail a fat pocket that won't quit. Doesn't matter if it's in front of 1000 people, a bar crowd, or in the basement. When the perfect groove kicks in, time stands still. It's the ultimate legal high.
Our utopia would be....
1.....State Lottery
2.....Traveling the world to see a different band everyday......
3.....Maybe staying away from the hallucinogens
I'm a bit on the opposite side of the scale... Young, not quite bar-playing yet, probably somewhat naive. But, I wanna share some of my Utopian ideals...
I can still remember putting together my first real song with my band earlier this year... We all started, screwed around, tinkered with the idea, and it finally started taking shape. Every bit, piece by piece, came over a few practices. There's still some cutting and pasting, but it was just magickal. Hearing the entire thing put together, played out and realizing we made something together,... THAT was Utopia! I couldn't get that piece out of my head for the next few days, and that's realizing I get a new song stuck in my head every few minutes!
Being young and hopeful, I still have plans on what these "Utopian dreams" are... Probably more like goals for my experience, and distant memories for most of the crowd here. But my current Utopian dream is to actually get to PLAY on stage. Bar, outdoors,... Who cares, really. I've played for friends, I've sat outside with a mini amp, and I've had jam sessions with a few people singing along. I probably should've been on stage a few years ago really, but haven't QUITE been there yet. I want to do that in the coming months though, hopefully before my birthday. If it's not for me by then, I'll just be patient and hope it comes over 2008
I also can't wait to make some of the memories you guys have. I've had compliments and criticisms, etc. Those compliments come as minor doses of Utopia. Hearing somebody say "That was cool", even when you're just screwing off for a minute, is really a quick fix. Jamming with fellow musicians and hearing anything in a good tone is that Utopia. And I could go on for days, but seeing as I tend to type for hours on one post, I'm gonna stop on that
Really... Just being a musician is Utopia to me. Playing something I've heard, making something come to life from my mind's concoctions, hanging out and jamming with others who share the same love of music,... That, my friends, is my Utopia!
Love the green cootchie, Bag... en Espanol as well. Does anybody know the Spanish for "Don't touch green vagina's?"
Seriously, Naga, your day to climb onstage will come. You'll be scared to death, and probably won't play as well as you hoped, so you won't sound your best. Your heart will feel like it's going to explode. Your fingers will get all stiff, your pupils will dilate, and your brain will struggle to get out just one coherent thought. You'll barely be able to hear your instrument from the pounding in your ears, and your face will be flush. As you start the song, you'll wonder what the hell you got yourself into. Halfway through it, you'll know. At the end, when everybody applauds, you'll know why everybody here works so hard.
If I had a gig for you to sit in on, I'd hook you up, but I'm guessing you're a rocker (I'm a bluegrass picker). I bet somebody here could find you a place to stand onstage for a song or two, ask around.----->JMS
Naga wrote:Pretty much. I'm workin on it though, got a couple good angles right now. I'll be there sooner than I know it
Dude I applaud you now! You seem to have a great attitude already in that you appreciate what others have done. And are learning from that. I wished when I was your age I had the Internet as a tool to help me learn some steps I had to on my own. To be able to inner twine with people in the know. I still learn everyday. It's a personal high to come off with something I never thought I could get. I think this could make an excellent start of a new post. Like Songsmith said, Your gonna feel thingsyou never felt before and you'll never forget the first time. If it's good or bad, take it and learn from it. And always have a blast!
(I am off to start a new thread)...Thanks for the idea! and GOOD LUCK!!
Oh and the tits too.....I seriously love it when the girls are gettin off to the music. This is not a bad thing! 
), and now I'm living diversity from country to Brit rock, to funk, to "High School Musical". It's all good. Great family, pretty cool but a paycheck to paycheck job, and lifelong friends made from playing and singin'. Utopia, no. I too have family and friends that are suffering but I can't change that. But, musically, life's been a bit Utopian.
